Buzz! Quiz TV and Buzz! Master Quiz impressions

Smacked dab in the middle of the first NFL game and Sen. John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, I was at Pete’s Tavern playing a quiz show. Sony was letting journos play Buzz! Quiz TV for the PlayStation 3 and Buzz! Master Quizfor the PlayStation Portable.

For those who haven’t tried the Buzz! franchise, the game plays like a trivia game show with cartoonish characters and a host who reminds me of a Muppet. The categories are varied and include pop culture, questions based on images and ones where players have to place the answers in order.

The big improvement in the PlayStation 3 version is the wireless buzzers. In previous versions, the game included a wired set, but the peripheral quickly became a tangled mess. The new version has a similar build with a large red button and four multicolored secondary buttons except there’s nothing else to get in the way.

Without the wires, playing with the Buzz! controller actually feels like being on a game show.

By far, the most-forward looking feature is the My Buzz Quiz mode, which lets players add their own questions to the game. It adds a bit of user-generated content to the game. Players write up questions via the MyBuzzquiz.com, and later, they can download them onto their PS3.

On the PSP, Buzz! Master Quiz is built for a single-player experience. Players answer a number of themed questions. They include a series on celebrities or one in which players have to identify a picture.

The problem facing this version is that some of questions can be a little confusing. I had one where I had to place movies in order according to release date and I had Flubber and Freaky Friday. Unfortunately, both had remakes so it wasn’t clear what the real order should be.

Other than that, Buzz! seems ill-suited on a portable. But there was a multiplayer a mode and still need to try that out. maybe it can change my mind.